Dress watches to know

Along with the slow-moving trend back towards thin watches, dress watches have also been enjoying some increased amount of the spotlight. For whatever reason, brands are returning to the simple and classic stying of 50’s and 60’s to inspire new and modern timepieces. Here are just a few models that stand out for being beautiful, simple and aestetically versatile enough to suit a wide range of dress.

Tissot Visodate

• 40x 11.6 mm
• Stainless steel case (gold available)
• ETA 2836-2 with Day and Date
• Silver or black dial
• Sapphire crystal
• 30m WR

This modern Visodate has been styled after Tissot’s original Visodate model from the early 50’s. The Visodate is a classic dress watch in a modern size (40mm) with a price tag of around $550 USD. It is hard to think of a reason to exclude one of these from your rotation. We recommend the silver-dialed stainless steel model as Tissot does not fit the black dialed model with a black day and date wheel resulting in unbalanced dial proportions. The silver dial is perfect and the 40mm case is very practical and should wear larger thanks to a very thin bezel design. The silver dial should suit a black strap as easily as a brown option so the Visodate can be as dressy as you want it to be. If you’re looking for something a bit thinner, take a closer look at the Hamilton Jazzmaster below.

Hamilton Jazzmaster Slim Petite Seconde

•  43 x 8 mm
• Stainless steel case
• ETA 2892 with sub seconds and date
• Black/grey or white dial
• Sapphire crystal
• 30m WR

This is an option for those that prefer a larger watch as this variant of the Jazzmaster is 43mm wide but only 8mm thick so this model should provide excellent wrist presence while still sliding easily under your cuff. The use of the ETA 2892 allows the Jazzmaster a date feature at three o’clock and a lovely sub seconds display at six. You have the option of a black/grey dial or a white dial with gold hands and indices. We recommend the models fitted to a leather strap as a bracelet will seem out of place in a more formal environment. Street price on this model is around $650 so you pay an additional $100 for the thin case and sub seconds complication when compared with the Tissot Visodate.

Hamilton also makes a more reserved, 40mm version of the Jazzmaster which looks excellent but does not have any seconds display (sub or conventional). The 40mm Jazzmaster Slim can be found online for $550 and might be the best option if you feel as though you don’t need a seconds display on your dress watch. The 40mm version will likely wear smaller than expected as it retains the 22mm lug spacing seen on the larger Jazzmaster models (should have been 18 or 20mm).

These are only a few of the options available well under $1000 that will suit a varied style of dress and not seem at all out of place with a suit. We are working to get these models in for review so use the comments section to let us know which one is your favourite.